Sledgehammer CEO: ‘studios need to keep an open mind’

Modern Warfare 3 co-developer Sledgehammer Games was co-founded by one Glen Schofield, who has given a lecture at this year’s DICE summit. During his session he called on developers to keep an open mind when approaching new ideas, lest consumer interest in the industry wane.

I know what some of you are already thinking – ‘Call of Duty is an yearly cycle franchise, how can he possibly suggest developers keep an open mind?’ – but he has 17 years directing experience under his belt, and 23 years in the industry, so he knows a thing or two about games.

GI.biz reports that Schofield cautioned studios that raw talent isn’t enough to generate unique ideas, but that developers need to constantly be thinking about that next big ‘Eureka!’ moment.

Those ideas must come from developers keeping an open mind, he cautioned, and added that studios should put their ego to one side, and work on their idea at base level, pumping tons of research into it and making something that stands out from the pack. He said that this dedication would be “Great for the industry.”

Schofield’s practical example of this dedication to research is that he brushed up on his knowledge of Operation Desert Storm, Somalian pirates and sandstorms for a mission in Modern Warfare 3, and he even watched some 400 movies while working on the original Dead Space at Visceral. He stressed that this level of research must be carried out for all elements of a game, no matter how small it may seem.

It’s an interesting discussion on creating diverse titles. Here it is in full: